This morning we shared on this matter of the work—God’s work. Instead of working for God, we should be working with God in His work.
Now this afternoon, we would like to enter into this area of the workers. Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 9? We will read from Matthew 9:35 through Matthew 10:1.
And Jesus went round all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.
Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest.
And He called unto Him His twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.
We mentioned this morning that there is only one work of God, or, to put it another way, God has only one work to do. This one work of God can only be done by God Himself. There is no one who can do this work.
We can work for God. We can do what we call the works of God. But when you really come to this matter of the one work that God does, you will discover that you cannot help Him. He is the only One who does it and who can do it.
I think this is one reason why we often spoil God’s work: because we work too much. If only we realized that God’s work can only be done by God Himself, and if only we would allow Him to do His work—not trying to substitute ourselves for Him—then I think we would be in a much better position to be used by God.
Yet it is strange. In the Bible, you find that, on the one hand, God’s work can only be done by God Himself. He does not need your help. On the other hand, you find that He does call people to be fellow workers.
In this instance that we have just read, our Lord Jesus was doing God’s work. He was traveling through towns and villages. He was teaching, preaching, casting out demons, and healing people. When great crowds came to Him, He had such compassion for them.
He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, and the workmen are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth workmen into His harvest.” In other words, our Lord Jesus had such compassion on the multitudes. He felt that these people were harassed, like sheep without a shepherd. How He desired that many workmen might be sent out to harvest the harvest.
After He said that, He asked the disciples to pray that the Lord would send out workers. Then, in Matthew 10, you find that He sent out the twelve to go out and harvest the harvest. Here you find that, in God’s work, He does call people to come and work with Him.
He does send people out as workmen. He needs fellow workers. He needs men and women to work together with Him in His tremendous work. Now, are these two things contradictory?
The work of God can only be done by God Himself. He does it, but He wants to do it through you. Outwardly, it seems as if we are working, but actually it is He who does the work.
This is the reason why, in Philippians 2, we are told:
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.
We find that we have to work out. But before we can work out, we first must let God work in us. If we allow God first to work in us, then, when we work out, it is He who is working. So it is still God who does the work.
We are only vessels and instruments in His hand, cooperating with Him and letting Him do the work that He wants to do. This is all that we are.
In Ephesians 2, we are told:
For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not of works, that no man should glory.
When we come to this matter of salvation, we often say that we are saved by grace through faith. Why? Because it is not our work. It is not of ourselves; it is God’s work.
On the cross, our Lord Jesus said, “It is finished.” The work is done, and the work is given to us as grace. On our part, all we do is believe—believe the work of God—and we are saved.
Now, we often use that in the matter of salvation. But continue on to Ephesians 2:10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
We are His workmanship. In other words, God works upon us; God works in us. We are being worked upon by God. But after God has worked in us, you find that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
You find the same principle. First, we allow God to work in us. We are in His hand, His workmanship. Then His workmanship is expressed and demonstrated by the good works that we do.
Now, good works here, of course, means doing the will of God. Only when we are doing God’s will are we doing good works. This is something that God has before prepared for us, that we should walk in it.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians, said, “We are God’s fellow workers.” When Paul said that, did he refer only to himself and to Sosthenes? We know that 1 Corinthians was written by Paul and Sosthenes.
Without doubt, Paul and Sosthenes were God’s fellow workers. They worked with God in His work. If you read 1 Corinthians, you will probably find that this includes Apollos and Cephas, because Paul mentioned Apollos and Cephas. Certainly, Apollos and Cephas were also God’s fellow workers.
It is true that God has called some to work in such a manner—people like Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Sosthenes. They are called by God to work together with God in His work.
As you find in Ephesians 4, God has given to the church some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints. God has called some people to be His workmen, to be His fellow workers, to work together with Him.
But is this exclusive? In other words, are only a few among the many who are redeemed of the Lord called to be God’s workers, His fellow workers? Are the rest not involved in God’s work? Are the rest not workers?
Even in 1 Corinthians 3, you find that this is not so. On the one hand, Paul said, “We are God’s fellow workers,” and, “Ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building.” It is as if Paul, Sosthenes, Apollos, and Cephas were working upon the Corinthian believers, and the Corinthian believers were being worked upon by these fellow workers of God.
But as you read on, you find that after the foundation is laid, which is Christ, Paul says, “Let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon.” You can build upon that foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, or you can build upon the foundation with wood, hay, and stubble.
Whatever you put in, one day the work of each shall be made manifest. Fire shall appear; it will test the worth of each. Whether you receive a reward or suffer loss, the work of each will be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ.
This is not in the sense of losing your salvation, but in the sense of losing your reward. So, in this sense, every child of God is a fellow workman, a worker.
Oftentimes, we limit the term “worker,” “workman,” or “ministry” to just a few who are especially called by God to work upon the church. We say, “Now these are workers. These are God’s fellow workers.”
In one sense, this is true. Ephesians 4 tells us very clearly that God has given to the church some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. We call these groups of people ministers of the Word of God.
God entrusts His Word to these people, and with the Word of God they minister to the church. They perfect the saints. In the strict sense, there is a group of people who are especially called to work upon the church as ministers of God’s Word.
But sometimes we neglect the other side. The other side is that all God’s people are involved in the same work—God’s work—and all of God’s people are workers.
There is no one who is not called into His vineyard. You remember that parable of the owner of a vineyard. He went out early in the morning and engaged people to come and work in his vineyard. Then, at different hours, he went out and saw people still standing idle, doing nothing.
Even at the last hour, he still saw people standing there. He said, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Go into the vineyard and work. In other words, everyone is called into God’s vineyard.
As many as there are children of God, there should be as many workers in God’s work.
Are we not all priests? First Peter 2:5 says:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Here you find that all believers are priests. And what are priests? Priests are God’s fellow workers. Priests work with God. Priests work in the house of God.
This is a universal feature of believers taught in the Bible. In Old Testament times, when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them to Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19, God said that if they would obey Him and keep His covenant, they would be His own possession and a kingdom of priests.
In other words, every redeemed Israelite—men, women, and children—was to be a priest. Being a priest means that they all serve God.
When Moses was sent to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, what did he say to Pharaoh? God said, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” God set the people free not merely because He wanted them to be free to do whatever they liked.
When they were in Egypt, they were slaves. They had to do the work of Pharaoh. They had no choice. Now God set them free. But does it mean that after they are free they can do their own work and whatever they like? Not at all.
“Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” They were set free in order that they might do God’s work. They were to be a nation of priests. Every Israelite was to serve God. That was God’s original intention.
Unfortunately, when Moses was receiving the commandments on the mountain, the children of Israel sinned against God. They worshiped the golden calf. When Moses came down and saw the situation, the discipline of God came upon them.
By worshiping the golden calf, the whole nation of Israel disqualified themselves from the service of God. You cannot serve God and serve idols. You cannot do that.
So out of that nation, God chose one tribe—not because they had not fallen, but because they repented and responded to God’s call: “Whoso is on the Lord’s side, let him come unto me.”
In other words, they were to be separated. Not only were they to be separated, but they were to deny themselves in such a way that they were willing to sever even earthly relationships. The tribe of Levi responded, and on that basis God separated them to be priests and Levites to serve.
Remember, this was God’s emergency measure. It was not God’s original design. When we come to the New Testament, and our Lord Jesus has accomplished redemption on Calvary’s cross, everything is to be restored to God’s original, full purpose.
Therefore, in the church it is no longer only a few serving God. It is all believers—all priests. Every child of God, every redeemed one, is a priest unto God.
What is a priest? If a priest is not serving God, what is he? That is his occupation. That is the meaning of his life.
Brothers and sisters, it is so important in our days to see that every believer is God’s fellow worker. Do not speak of God’s work as something to be done only by a few. God’s work is meant to be done by all, in cooperation with God.
Unfortunately, Christianity has fallen back to Judaism. It has fallen back to God’s emergency measure instead of coming up to God’s full purpose. We believe that in the last days, when God is going to recover His work, He has to recover His workmen too.
We believe that today God is calling all His people to rise up, to enter into His vineyard, and to do His work. We are all God’s fellow workers. It is a tremendous honor and privilege, but, of course, it is also a very great responsibility.
All God’s children are priests. Recently, I was translating something by Brother Watchman Nee. In that article he said something that may sound very strange, so I hope you will listen carefully.
We often say, “As many as there are children of God, there are as many priests.” Is that correct? Of course it is correct. It is biblical. You cannot have one hundred children of God and only five priests.
If you have one hundred children of God, you should have one hundred priests. Or, if we change the term, if you have one hundred Christians, you should have one hundred servants. If you have one hundred children of God, you should have one hundred workers.
But Brother Nee put it another way. He said that as many priests as you have, there you have as many members of the body of Christ. Now that sounds unscriptural at first.
Every child of God is a priest, and every priest is a member of the body of Christ. So, if you look at it from the standpoint of truth, you must say that as many children as you have, so many priests you have, and so many members of the body of Christ you have.
But when you come to the reality of the body of Christ, when you come to the reality of the church, suppose you have one hundred brothers and sisters, and only ten brothers and sisters are functioning members of the body of Christ. Do you see the church? You do not see the church.
But when you have one hundred brothers and sisters, and all one hundred brothers and sisters function, what do you see? You see the church. In the body of Christ, there is no member that has no function.
Every member of the body of Christ has a function, even though the positions may be different. Every member of the body of Christ is supposed to be living, and if it is living, it is supposed to be functioning.
If you have many members of the body of Christ not functioning, you wonder whether they are living. And if they are not living, what can you say?
Isn’t that terrible? Why is it that we do not see the reality of the church today? We are not talking about doctrine. We are talking about experience. We are talking about reality.
When you really come to this matter of the reality of the body of Christ—the reality of the church—brothers and sisters, if you have one hundred members, all one hundred members must be functioning. Then you have the reality of the body of Christ; you have the reality of the church.
If you have one hundred members and only five are functioning or working, while the other ninety-five just sit there to be worked upon and never work, how can God’s work be done? God’s work cannot be done.
I do not know whether this really gets into you. I hope it does, because I think this is one of the most difficult problems we have in the church.
Our concept is so limited by tradition that we often think of workers as just a few specially called people, while the rest are laymen and laywomen. Our concept is that only a few are called into God’s work, but we have no part in it.
Now that is wrong—very wrong. This concept has to be corrected. If it is not corrected, not only will we be unable to see the reality of the church, but God’s work simply cannot be done.
I remember that Brother Nee also said that if you have only the five-talented ones working, or only the five-talented and two-talented ones working, while all the one-talented ones are dormant, you do not see the church.
Worse than that, we all love the five-talented ones. We want to see them work. As a matter of fact, you do not need to encourage the five-talented ones to work. If they have five talents, they will work. You do not need to encourage them at all.
Probably the two-talented ones need a little encouragement. You need to encourage them a little, and the two-talented ones will come out. But how about the one-talented ones?
If all the one-talented ones are burying their talents, and only the five-talented ones are working, while we encourage the two-talented ones to come up and work, God’s work cannot be done.
God’s work can only be done when all the talents are put together. Do not despise the one-talented ones. When you have five one-talented ones, it is equal to one with five talents.
When we come to this matter of work, the first thing we really need to see is that it is not limited to a few people. It includes every believer.
If you go back to Ephesians 4, you will see very clearly that God has given to the church some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers, and some pastors. What do they do? They are for the perfecting of the saints.
Their work is to perfect the saints. By perfecting the saints, it means helping the saints to grow to maturity. By feeding them with the Word of God, the Word of God builds them up spiritually so that they may grow and become mature.
When the saints are matured, the Bible says, “with a view to the work of ministering, to the building up of the body of Christ.” Why should the saints be perfected? Why should we not just remain as babies?
We would like to remain babies if we could. Why? Because there is no responsibility. Everybody says, “Baby, so beautiful,” and we can do anything we like. But when you grow up and do something, people criticize you. If you are a baby, they will not criticize you.
How we like to remain as babes! Why should we be perfected? Why should we grow up? There is one reason: because there is a work to be done, with a view to the work of the ministry.
What is the work of the ministry? It is not another ministry of these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They have already done their job in perfecting you. This ministry is body ministry.
Dr. Lightfoot, an Anglican bishop who loved the Lord and knew the Word, explained this verse by saying that “with a view to the work of ministry” is not the ministry of apostles, prophets, and teachers. No, this ministry is body ministry.
What is body ministry? Every member of the body does its part. First, you find a ministry working upon the body; then, out of the body, a ministry is developed. That ministry is body ministry. It is done by every member of the body of Christ, building itself up in love.
If you look at it in this way, you will see that every member of the body of Christ is a fellow worker with God. We are all involved in the work.
It may be true that those who are especially called, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and pastors, work more and harder. But certainly they are not to monopolize God’s work. They are not to substitute for you in God’s work; rather, they are to stimulate you into God’s work.
If we work among God’s people and make God’s people so dependent upon us that they cannot do without us, if we never help them to take responsibility and do everything for them, what will be the result?
Even in your own families, if you never let your children grow, if you do everything for your children and do not allow them to have any responsibility or discipline, but simply let them enjoy themselves, what kind of children will they become? When they grow up, they will never mature.
The same thing is true with the church. The ministry of those specially called is to perfect the saints so that they may do the work. Those who are especially called work upon the body so that the body may function and finish the job.
This is very important. It is something we need to realize. There is no idle member in the body of Christ. There is no non-functioning member in the body of Christ. There is no unemployed priest in the church.
Brothers and sisters, thank God you have a desire to serve. Why? Because we are all God’s fellow workers. We are all called into the work. Unless we are all in the work, the work simply cannot be done.
But, of course, it is not easy to work with God and not merely work for God. If we are working for God, we may say, “Well, all right, let us do something.”
I often remember this. Forgive me for mentioning Brother Nee again, because I received so much help from him. I was a young worker at the time. I knew nothing, and even today I know very little.
He told us, “If brothers and sisters are not interested in God’s interests, if they have no heart for God, if they have no desire for God’s work, you have no problem in the church. You have no problem.”
But once brothers and sisters begin to have a desire to serve God, and they really have a heart for God, they are interested in God’s interests, and they begin to come in and want to help—why, you have all the problems.
On the one hand, you have to say, “Come and work.” After they come and begin to work, you will have to discipline them when their flesh comes up. It is a paradox.
If Peter would only keep his mouth shut! But thank God, this is the problem. Oftentimes we are afraid of problems. We think that if the church has no problems, that is best; if everybody is very quiet, that is good.
No, that is bad. It is like a cemetery—too quiet. Do not be afraid of problems. If there are problems, it shows that there is interest. But, of course, when we come in, we bring our flesh in, and that is where we need discipline.
In other words, come and work, but be ready for discipline. If you are not ready for discipline, do not come.
There are a few things I would like to share this afternoon. Number one: doing the work of God is not a matter of having a work done; it is a matter of supplying life.
There is a tremendous difference. God’s work is basically different from man’s work, because man’s work is just a work. If you have the work done, then you are successful.
But God’s work is not a matter of having a job done. God’s work is to see that life is imparted, life is increased. If there is no impartation of life, and if life is not increased, then, so far as God’s work is concerned, it is not God’s work.
You may have a lot of things done, but if there is no life in it, then it is empty. In God’s work there is always one element: life—life.
That is the reason why, unless we are redeemed of the Lord, unless we have the life of Christ in us, we cannot work with God. But with the life of God in us, we must remember that when we really work God’s work, the question is: how much life are we able to put into the work?
That is the test, the criterion, of God’s work. Sometimes we may do a lot of work, but perhaps the input of life is only a little. Only that little counts. The rest will be burned.
If we are thinking of working with God in His work, we must put special emphasis on this matter of life. It is not merely a matter of delivering a service.
If we are clever, if we do research, if we study, if we are eloquent and our minds are clear, we can deliver a sermon or give a message. But how much life is imparted? Will it result in life, or will it result merely in education?
As Brother Sparks said, it must be edification. I like that. It is not education, because edification in the original means building up. Much of what is called ministry is only head education.
You may be serving in the church as an elder or a responsible brother. Because you have tremendous executive ability, perhaps you run a big corporation outside. To run a church may seem a simple matter to you.
You use your executive ability and run the church well. You manage it so well that everybody says, “Well, the church is a success.” But are you doing God’s work? Is God’s work done?
A job may be done. But if there is no impartation of life, God’s work is not done. You are doing your work, but you cannot say this is God’s work.
First of all, when we come to this matter of workers, we have to realize how important our life with God is. As we said before, it is more a matter of being than a matter of doing. It is easy to do, but it is difficult to be. Unless we are, we cannot do.
If we desire to work with God in His work, we must have a life with God. Our life with God must be deepened. The life of Christ must be increasing in us. Only in the measure of the life we have are we able to supply the needs of God’s work.
Remember our Lord Jesus on the last day of the feast in John 7. He stood and cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.”
He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said,
from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
What are rivers? Rivers of living water. Wherever a river flows, you find life—teeming life. All kinds of living things begin to come up.
The Lord Jesus said, “From within him shall flow rivers of living water.” If you want to supply the needs of God’s work, first of all you have to come to Him and drink. You must let Him work in you. You must take Him.
When you take Him, that is when you believe. Again we say, believe—this is the work of God. If you believe, if you let Him do the work in you, then from within you shall flow rivers, not merely one river, but rivers.
This is doing God’s work: life. That is the first thing. In the measure of the life you receive and in the measure of the life you are able to release will be the measure of your part in God’s work.
Number two: vision. Life is the foundation of God’s work. Life is the building material. Vision is the pattern of God’s work.
We are engaged in God’s work. We are fellow workers of God. We are doing God’s work. If we are going to do God’s work, certainly we need to see the pattern.
It is not merely that we are doing our own work. If we do our own work, we can dream up a kind of work and do it. But in doing God’s work, you have to know what He is doing, what He wants to do, and what the pattern is.
Vision simply means the pattern. Moses was called by God to do a work—to build the tabernacle. God called him to the mountain, and there God showed him the pattern, the heavenly pattern.
Whatever was to be done on earth in building the tabernacle was to be patterned after the heavenly reality. God showed Moses the heavenly pattern, and He wanted him to do everything according to that pattern.
This is where Moses’ faithfulness was seen. The Bible says that Moses was faithful in all God’s house. In what sense was Moses faithful? In the sense that he did everything according to the pattern shown on the mountain.
But if you do not have the pattern, how can you do God’s work? That is the problem today. People are working for God, but they do not have any pattern. Because they do not have a heavenly pattern, they design a pattern and make up their own design.
Who knows whether it fits with God’s pattern? This is why it is very important that, if we are to be engaged in God’s work, we need vision.
By vision, we do not mean something you see with your naked eyes. Vision simply means that God reveals His mind concerning His work to you. God shows you what His work is and what He is really looking toward. This is something we must see.
We must see God’s pattern, not merely a part of it. We must see God’s plan as a whole. It is true that every one of us is engaged in only a part of His work, but our vision must be complete.
That is the problem today. People’s visions are so narrow. For instance, if I feel that God has called me to be an evangelist, all I see is souls. I do not see God’s perfect will.
If I am called to be a healer, all I see is healing. If I am going to be a teacher, all I see is the poverty among God’s people concerning God’s Word. You have a vision, and you do your part.
But if you do not see the overall pattern, do you know what will happen? We will not be able to work together. On the contrary, we will step upon one another.
That is what you find today. The evangelist may look down upon the teacher, and the teacher may look down upon the evangelist. “What are you doing? Saving souls, getting them born, and then leaving them to die? What is the use of it?”
Even if we are doing a part of the work of God, we can be in a position of opposing one another if we do not have the overall vision. It is important, therefore, that we see the heavenly vision as fully as possible.
Paul said, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” We need a vision of the pattern, the heavenly pattern, the reality. Then we will each do our part.
As we each do our part, we will appreciate the part done by other brothers and sisters. We will see that we cannot do without our brothers and sisters. We need one another to complete the work of God.
Number three: the cross. We are thinking of the cross not only in terms of objective truth. We believe that on the cross of Calvary our Lord Jesus accomplished all. “It is finished.” We believe that.
But the matter we are speaking of is the subjective working of the cross in our lives. It is based upon the objective work Christ finished on Calvary’s cross, but that cross has to be brought into our lives by the working of the Holy Spirit.
Why is the working of the cross in our lives so important? In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels—the life of Christ in us. We are the earthen vessels; the treasure is in us. How can this power be manifested? Put another way, there is life there, but how can that life be released to supply the work?
Paul was talking about ministry. He was not merely talking about the growth of our own life; he was talking about how ministry can be fulfilled. He said:
Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
In other words, life can only be released through the cross. Our Lord Jesus said that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. This He spoke concerning His death.
It is on the cross that life is released, and the church is produced. This principle is true with all God’s children.
Therefore, in John 12, the Lord continues to say:
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me;
and where I am, there shall also My servant be:
if any man serve Me, him will the Father honor.
Where was He going? He was going to the cross. How can we serve? We serve in the resurrection power of His life. This is the secret of the release of life.
If we are not willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord, if we always want our own way, if we never know how to be beaten down but not knocked out, life will be imprisoned within us. We will not be able to minister life, and God’s work cannot be done.
But as we are willing to bear in our body the dying of Jesus—“I die daily”—it becomes a continuous process. We are willing to die for Jesus’ sake, so that life may be released.
Because of that, you find rivers of living water. As we come to this matter of workers working with God in His work, how necessary it is that we have the marks of Jesus upon us.
Paul says, “Let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.”
Number four: in order to work the work of God, we need to remind ourselves that this is not a work done by you alone. You are called to work together with your brothers and sisters. You are not the only workman.
It is very easy for us to work alone, because then you can do whatever pleases you. But to work together with your brothers and sisters, you have to wait for one another, bear with one another, forbear one another, and lay down yourselves. There are many lessons you have to learn.
In God’s work, there is tremendous discipline. God’s work is not for loners. You find so many independent ones today. Many servants of God simply cannot work together; each has his own work. We wonder how much of this work is really God’s work.
In God’s work, we must remember that we are a priesthood. We work together under the High Priest. We work side by side. Each one can only fulfill a part, and even that part cannot be fully fulfilled without the help of our brothers and sisters.
We need one another. We need to work together. In doing that, not only will the work be done, but a work will be done in us too. There is much still to be done in us as we work together.
Working together is not merely to have a job done. Working together means that we are being worked upon as we are working together. We need to underline this point: never try to do anything independently.
Sometimes it is difficult. A thing can be done by yourself. If you do it alone, it may be done in an hour; but if you do it with your brothers and sisters, it may take two days.
But remember that God’s work is very different. It is not merely a matter of having something done. It is more than that.
Finally, I have already mentioned this, but I want to emphasize it: when we are doing God’s work, try to help and bring other brothers and sisters into the work.
Those who have one talent tend to bury it because they say, “I have only one talent. What can I do? There is not much I can do with it.” Therefore, they have a tendency to bury it.
Brothers and sisters, if you are in any responsibility of any kind—whether you are in the so-called ministry, ministering the Word of God, or whether you serve in the capacity of elders, deacons, deaconesses, or in any responsibility in the church—remember one thing.
It is more than just you working. You have a responsibility to bring those who are not functioning into function. This is our responsibility.
It is true that if you try to do that, it makes you work harder. But unless this is done, how can we see the church, the body of Christ? How can we see all the members functioning?
I believe that if every one of us not only works but also tries to bring other brothers and sisters into the work, it is by doing so that God’s work will be done.
There is such inequality of labor and responsibility today. A few in the church are bearing all the responsibility. They are doing all the work. They work themselves to death, and yet the work is not done.
Go back to the book of Acts. That is what you find with the apostles. In the beginning, in the church at Jerusalem, the twelve apostles literally worked themselves to death. They did everything. They preached, they served tables, they did everything.
No doubt, they did everything with all they could. But the Hellenistic widows were neglected in the daily ministration. It was not because the apostles did not care; it was simply too much.
Because of that, even the preaching of the Word suffered, because they had to spend time serving tables. Then something happened. Seven brothers were brought in to serve the tables, so that the apostles might be released to give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
The result was that the Word of God increased. The principle is there. The principle is always to bring everybody in.
This is what we need to do nowadays. We are drawing very close to the time when our Lord shall return. The work has to speed up, and the only way the work can be speeded up is by bringing all in.
Let us work together. Let us work together with one another, and let us work together with God.
Heavenly Father, our hearts do rejoice. Who are we that Thou hast called us into Thy vineyard? Who are we that Thou hast chosen us to be fellow workers with Thee and with one another?
Lord, we pray that Thou wilt not allow any brother or sister to feel that he has no part in Thy work. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt encourage all the brothers and sisters to be faithful and wise servants of Thine.
Lord, we do acknowledge that there is much we need to understand and to learn. We are waiting for Thee. So, yes, take us in Thy hand, train us, raise us, lead us, and use us.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.